


Lookalike

by Morpheus626



Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25056253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morpheus626/pseuds/Morpheus626
Summary: An Anon songfic request: "If you're still doing the songfic requests, could you do lookalike by conan gray?"Copying my summary from my Tumblr post of this fic: Oooh this gave me the chance for Drama and Lots of Intense Emotions and Some Shouting and also to create an OC for this particular fic! I kinda took the idea and emotion of the song and twisted it round a bit as the plot progressed; it was definitely an interesting exercise, though I didn’t originally intend for it to get so serious!  Warnings for implied past physical and emotional abuse and also damn part of this got really sad though again I didn’t intend that? It just kinda went there and I followed the plot bunny lol.
Relationships: Merriell "Snafu" Shelton/Eugene Sledge
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Lookalike

**Author's Note:**

> I do want to say, I’d never hear the song before, but the song is a good one! Here’s a link to listen, for anyone reading who hasn’t heard it: https://open.spotify.com/track/4K3gM7kzX4POAfrs71HomN

He saw him while they were walking down the street, finishing the list of errands for the day. He didn’t want to alarm Eugene, but he also really didn’t want to deal with-

“Victor,” Snafu sighed, defeated as he ran across the street to them. 

“Y’know, a person would be inclined to think you hadn’t made it back, Merriell. You’re a hard man to find,” Victor said, glaring hard at Eugene. “Who’s this?” 

Eugene fed Victor’s glare right back at him before Snafu could react. “Eugene Sledge. Snafu’s friend and…” Eugene held out his hand to shake, and when Victor took it, pulled him close and whispered just loud enough for Snafu to hear. “…his husband. Who are you?” 

Victor gave a sarcastic bark of a laugh. “Husband. Interesting.” 

“Can we help you with something?” Eugene asked, his voice riding the edge of polite and quietly angry. “If not, we were heading home.” 

“Home? Thought New Orleans was home,” Victor replied. “Merriell, I don’t want to cause a scene, but I think I’m owed an explanation.” 

“Snafu?” Eugene asked. 

He wanted the ground to swallow him up. “Eugene, this is Victor. We were uh…together, for about a year. We broke up the year before I enlisted. And-” 

“Oh no,” Victor interrupted. “I get to tell my side of things first.” 

“Lower your voice,” Eugene commanded. The few other people walking up and down the street had started to look their way. “Better yet, let’s go get a drink or something. Then you can say your business so we can get home.” 

“You’ve got a type, least in looks,” Victor said, ignoring Eugene entirely. “Hazel eyes, just like me. Not sure if you’d call that a haircut, but even the same color as me. Bet there’s something of mine he couldn’t replicate though. Bet you miss it.” 

“Enough,” Snafu tried to sound commanding, but his voice wavered as he worked to hold back tears. He thought he’d given Victor the slip. Going away for so long, and staying away from his old hang-outs when they’d visited New Orleans. But somehow, he was here. “And I don’t. He’s better.” 

“What the fuck is goin’ on here?” Eugene said, his voice raising just slightly. “Both of you shut up until we get to the park, and then I want an explanation.” 

Eugene took him by the hand and nearly dragged him down the street to the local park, Victor hot on their heels. At the first empty bench, Eugene sat them all down, himself thankfully in between them. “Well?” 

“Like I was tryin’ to say. Victor and I dated for a year. Just datin’, nothing more. I knew I was plannin’ to enlist, and we weren’t doing well. Fighting, and…” tears fell before he could try and stop them. “It was terrible. So I broke it off, because it needed to end. But he followed me around, trying to get back together, and now, somehow…” Snafu gestured helplessly to Victor, who was rolling his eyes. “He’s here again.” 

“You make it sound like I stalked you,” Victor huffed. 

“You did,” Snafu replied, holding onto Eugene’s hand so tightly he knew he was leaving marks with his nails. 

“Yet here you are with my lookalike. You miss me,” Victor hissed. 

Snafu shook his head, and turned to face Eugene fully. “I don’t. I swear-”

“That’s why he likes you,” Victor interrupted. “You look just like good old Vic, and Merriell here wasn’t brave enough to come back and beg for me-” 

“Shut the fuck up!” Snafu was on his feet without thinking about it, his shout echoing around the park. “So I have a fucking type! You wanna know why I like him? He loves me! He cares about me! He doesn’t leave me in the fuckin’ gutter when we go out, no matter how drunk I am. He doesn’t spend every fuckin’ moment tellin’ me I’m nothin’ without him. He doesn’t hi-” 

He couldn’t bear to hear himself say it. He still didn’t like to think about the control Victor had been able to exert over him, how small he’d felt for that year they’d been together. How he’d been so afraid once he’d left Victor that he really would be nothing. That he’d never find anyone to trust or to love him again. And then there’d been Eugene-who did look similar to Victor, in his eyes and hair color and height, but only in that-who’d made his knees weak from the moment he laid eyes on him, and over their time together in the Pacific theater had managed to capture him completely, heart and soul.

“I did what I had to do, so you could learn how you should treat others,” Victor said brusquely. “But you haven’t learned a fucking thing, apparently. You never even thought about me, did you? After it ended?” 

Eugene was on his feet, holding tight onto his arm. “Ignore him. We’re going home.” 

“You’ll hear me out before you take a single step,” Victor shouted, standing to face them, tears starting to run down his cheeks. “You ruined me, when you left. I’ve spent years now, looking for you. Then trying to find you in other people, but I don’t want to settle for someone like you. I thought…I always thought…” 

He fumbled a ring box from his pocket. “All you had to do was do the same as me. Work in the factory, makin’ camo paint, stay safe at home. Listen to me, do as I say, and I would have made you the happiest man alive or dead. Instead you left me, then you left the damn city, and I can’t get you out of my head!” 

He reached out for Snafu’s free arm, and pulled him close, almost out of Eugene’s grasp. “You’re comin’ back home, and if I hear one word about it-” 

Suddenly, Eugene had let him go and his fist was across Victor’s face, hard. The punch knocked Victor onto his ass, glaring at them both as tears dripped down his face, blood dribbling from his split lip. 

“He is home. And from the sounds of it, you never were home to him. Home is where you’re safe, and happy, and loved. Now, I hope you can find that someday for yourself, but you sure as hell won’t if you keep comin’ around here bothering my husband, and I’ll make sure of it,” Eugene spat, breathing hard. It was strange to see him so angry. Snafu thought back, but the only time he could recall Eugene ever being so upset was towards the end of their time in the Pacific, when everyone was on edge and angry and more than ready to go home. 

“Fine. But every time you kiss him, every time he holds you close, I promise you he’ll be thinkin’ of me,” Victor spat back as he stood, picking up the ring box where it had fallen on the gravel path. 

“You’re dead fuckin’ wrong,” Snafu said, pushing past Eugene to give Victor a shove. “When we came back, I told Eugene there was nothin’ for me in New Orleans, and I meant it. And you know what? You never once came to mind, when I thought of New Orleans, never. My family? That’s the nothin’ that I have in New Orleans, but you? You’re less than nothin’ to me.” 

It was quiet, except for their heavy breathing and the sound of both of them muffling their crying as tears fell fast and hard. 

When Snafu finally turned back, he saw Eugene at the payphone near the park entrance, just hanging up. He jogged back as he caught eyes with Snafu, and the look of concern on his face only made it harder for him not to break down and sob. 

“So. I called a few of my friends and family round here. Marine friends, particularly. Now, I don’t like to pull rank, but I think this situation merits it,” Eugene told Victor as he stood there, catching his breath. “If you try and follow us, if you so much as come anywhere near us while you’re still in town, then I promise you’ll have hell to pay. They all know what you look like-” 

“Yeah,” Victor snickered through his tears. “Like-” 

“An extremely ugly version of me, yeah,” Eugene interrupted. “Now you stay the fuck away from me and Merriell.” 

He grabbed Snafu’s hand gently, and quickly but carefully pulled him down the path to the road. Sid was there, waiting with his car. Mary had already gotten out, and pulled up the backseat so they could get in. 

He let himself be pulled in, then finally collapsed into a fit of sobs as Mary got back in and Sid started to drive them home. 

“You believe me, don’t you? God, nobody ever believed me about him. They always believe Victor, always, but I swear to you I’m not lyin’, I never even liked him that much, it was just a…a fling, I only stayed because I was so damn scared of him,” Snafu knew he was babbling as he cried, but he couldn’t stop himself. He knew Eugene would believe him, yet the doubt was still there. His own mother had believed Victor over him, telling him he’d given up something good. 

“Darlin’,” Eugene’s voice was soft and soothing. “You know I believe you. You proposed to me, for fuck’s sake. You took care of me when I was still a scared-as-shit boot, in your own way. You went all the way out somewhere neither of us had ever been, knowing nothin’ about fuckin’ Maryland or what we might find there, just because you wanted to be with me. You came here, and I think you honestly would have fought my parents if they’d been anything other than decent to me, and I do mean a fist fight.” 

Sid laughed at that. “Sorry, Snaf. Just…it’s a hell of an image. And he’s right, I know you would have. No fucked up, ass of an ex-boyfriend is gonna convince any of us that you don’t absolutely love our Sledgehammer to death.” 

Mary nodded, and reached an arm back to pat his hand. “Eugene told us all about what he was doin’. Was gonna walk you home, but we didn’t want him tryin’ to follow you two. We’re gonna get you boys home, then you rest, okay? Let Sledgehammer take care of you.” 

He nodded, and hiccuped through the tears he tried desperately to quiet as they went, finally pulling into the circular drive and right up to the front door. 

“Careful,” Sid helped them out of the backseat, while Mary ran ahead with their spare house key and opened the door. “Now, I’ll be keepin’ my eyes open. And if he somehow makes it here, you call right away. If he’s smart, he’ll leave town tonight. But if decides to be even dumber than he’s been already…well, we’ll help him find his way out onto the road.” 

“Thank you,” Snafu whispered, his voice hoarse from the yelling and sobbing. 

“’Course,” Sid replied as they helped settle them inside. “Don’t you spend one more moment thinkin’ about him, and you two have a better evening, okay?” 

Eugene left him on the couch as he walked Sid and Mary out, thanking them for their help. When he came back, Snafu couldn’t help but break into tears again. 

“Honey, no,” Eugene was back on the couch in a heartbeat, sat down and pulling Snafu as far onto his lap as he could. “No more tears over him. He’s gone, and he’s not comin’ back. And if he tries to, I’ll make damn sure he doesn’t get near you.” 

“I know,” Snafu sobbed. “I just…god, you’re too damn good for me.” 

“Absolutely not,” Eugene replied. “It’s the other way around if anything.” 

“No,” Snafu replied. “I’m…” 

“Wonderful, sweet, the best man I’ve ever met, cute, kind,” Eugene interrupted. “Or were you gonna say how you’re also smart, and hard-working, and the only man I’d ever want as my husband?” 

Snafu managed a smile. “You forgot my great ass.” 

“Never, I could never forget that. I’m lucky enough to get to stare at it every day,” Eugene smiled, before pressing a soft kiss to Snafu’s lips. “We’re just fine. We’re safe, and I know you wouldn’t lie to me about him, or anything else. The only thing you lie to me about is when the cats have done something I don’t like.” 

“They’re kids; they don’t know any better,” Snafu protested with a chuckle. “Thank you.” 

“No need to thank me. We’ve both said it before. This is what it means: love, and marriage, and the rest of our lives together. We help each other, and hold each other up. It’s just my turn to hold you up right now, and I know you’ll do the same for me whenever I need,” Eugene said. “Now. What can I do to help make the rest of this day a good one for you?” 

“Can we just sit here, together?” Snafu asked, trying and failing to stop sniffling. “I’m tired as hell right now.” 

“Me too. Cuddling and a nap sound just right,” Eugene replied, moving Snafu like he didn’t weigh a thing as he pulled the rest of himself onto the couch, and yanked Snafu up so he was able to lay against his chest. 

“He really is a fuckin’ ugly version of you,” Snafu giggled as they relaxed. 

Eugene snorted and laughed. “I didn’t want to critique your previous taste in men, but…” 

“Thank god my taste got better,” Snafu sighed. “How lucky am I, that I found you?” 

Eugene replied with a kiss, his eyes already closed and his breathing slow. Snafu could tell he’d be asleep soon. 

And so would he, with the comforting sound of Eugene’s heartbeat beneath his ear.


End file.
